Menendez's Puerto Rican quandary

Sen. Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat, finds him­self smack in the middle of the latest flap over the appointment of a U.S. Attorney. Only this one has nothing to do with New Jer­sey.

Rather, Menendez is reportedly blocking the nomination of Rosa Rodriguez-Velez to head the office in San Juan. We have to say reportedly because so far Menendez has been mum on the
issue. He's not denying that he is indeed blocking the nomi­nation. But he's not admitting it either.

What he's doing is hiding in the dark recesses of a Senate tra­dition that allows any senator to block a nomination without hav­ing to say why - or even acknowledge that he's the one doing it.

When Democrats took control of the Senate this year with promises to toughen the ethics rules, they put restrictions on the practice known as "senatorial hold." Menendez voted for them.

Yet the Justice Department says the nomination is blocked, and the word is that the New Jersey senator has created the hold. Under the tougher rules, he will have to give an explanation or drop the hold if there is a call for unanimous consent. So far, that hasn't happened.

Politics, of course, is involved. The U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico has been investigating Gov. Anibal Acevedo-Vila's fund rais­ing practices since early last year. The governor, a friend of Me­nendez from their days in the House of Representatives, argues that elevating Rodriguez-Velez from the number two spot in the U.S. Attorney's office is another part of the White House's cam­paign to get prosecutors to go after Democrats.

That argument might be persuasive except that the Demo­cratic president of the Puerto Rican Senate describes Rodriguez-Velez as a "sterling career prosecutor." And the U.S. Senate Judi­
ciary Committee, controlled by Democrats, approved the nomi­nation and sent it for a floor vote.

Menendez may have a legitimate reason to block the nomi­nation but we don't know what it is because he' not talking. It's even possible that he's not the one behind the hold on the nomi­
nation. But again we don't know because he refuses to say.